Revelation, 6 December 1832 [D&C 86]

This
heading may have been part of the original inscription. John Whitmer’s copy of the revelation in
Revelation Book 1
contains a similar heading: “Revelation given December
6, 1832
Kirtland Ohio explaining the parable of the
Wheat & Tears.” (Revelation, 6 Dec. 1832, in Revelation Book 1, p.
117 [D&C
86].)

Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servants
concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tears,2

See Matthew 13:36–43.

Behold
verily I say that the field was the world and the Apostles were the sowers of the
seed and after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the Church
the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to
drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy even
Satan

A fallen angel, or son of God, known by many names, including Lucifer, the devil, the father of lies, the prince of darkness, perdition, and the adversary. In the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and JS’s Bible revisions, Satan was described as a tempter of men...

Revelation 12:1–6 recounts John’s
vision of a woman crowned with twelve stars who “fled into the wilderness” because
she was persecuted by the dragon.
JS’s revision of that passage stated that “the woman
. . . was the church of God.” An October 1830
revelation used the
same imagery of the church being in the wilderness.
(New Testament Revision 2, part 2, p.
152
[Joseph Smith Translation, Revelation
12:7];
Revelation, Oct.
1830–B
[D&C 33:5].)

but behold in the last days, even now while the Lord is
begining to bring forth
the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet
tender, behold verily I say unto you the angels are crying unto the Lord, day and
night who are ready, and waiting to be sent forth [p. 31]

A Revelation
explaining the parable of the wheet & <the> Tears
[tares]1

This
heading may have been part of the original inscription. John Whitmer’s copy of the revelation in
Revelation Book 1
contains a similar heading: “Revelation given December
6, 1832
Kirtland Ohio explaining the parable of the
Wheat & Tears.” (Revelation, 6 Dec. 1832, in Revelation Book 1, p.
117 [D&C
86].)

Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servants
concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tears,2

See Matthew 13:36–43.

Behold
verily I say that the field was the world and the Apostles were the sowers of the
seed and after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the Church
the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations <to>
drunk drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy even
Satan

A fallen angel, or son of God, known by many names, including Lucifer, the devil, the father of lies, the prince of darkness, perdition, and the adversary. In the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and JS’s Bible revisions, Satan was described as a tempter of men...

Revelation 12:1–6 recounts John’s
vision of a woman crowned with twelve stars who “fled into the wilderness” because
she was persecuted by the dragon.
JS’s revision of that passage stated that “the woman
. . . was the church of God.” An October 1830
revelation used the
same imagery of the church being in the wilderness.
(New Testament Revision 2, part 2, p.
152
[Joseph Smith Translation, Revelation
12:7];
Revelation, Oct.
1830–B
[D&C 33:5].)

but behold in the last days, even now while the Lord is
begining to bring forth his
<the> word, and the blade is springing up and is yet
tender, behold verily I say unto you the angels are crying unto the Lord, day and
night who are ready, and waiting to be sent forth [p. 31]

JS wrote in his journal that on 6 December 1832, he spent part of the day “translating

To produce a text from one written in another language; in JS’s usage, most often through divine means. JS considered the ability to translate to be a gift of the spirit, like the gift of interpreting tongues. He recounted that he translated “reformed Egyptian...

,” or
working on his revision of the Bible. It is not known whether he was working that
day on the New Testament revision or the Old Testament revision. But on that same
day, he “received a Revelation explaining the Parable [of] the wheat and the tears
[tares],” found in Matthew 13, suggesting that he may have been working on the New
Testament.1

New Testament Revision 1 / “A Translation of the New Testament Translated by
the Power of God,” 1831. CCLA. Also available in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P.
Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of
the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University, 2004), 153–228.

New Testament Revision 1 / “A Translation of the New Testament Translated by
the Power of God,” 1831. CCLA. Also available in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P.
Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of
the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University, 2004), 153–228.

Between late July 1832 and early
February 1833, however, he apparently spent time reviewing his revisions to
the New Testament.4

Frederick G. Williams served as scribe as
JS finished his revisions to the book of
Revelation between 20 and 31 July
1832. On 2 February 1833, Williams
wrote that JS finished the “translation and the reviewing of the New testament.”
(See Faulring et al., Joseph
Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 70; Frederick G. Williams, Statement,
no date, Frederick G. Williams Papers, CHL;
Letter to William W.
Phelps, 31 July
1832;
and Minute Book 1,
2
Feb.
1833.)

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

changed the text of Matthew
13:30 (which JS had originally left intact) from “I will say to the reapers, gather
ye together first the tares” to “gather ye together first the wheat into my barn,
and the tares are bound in bundles to be burned.”5

New Testament Revision 1, p.
34
[Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew
13:30];
New Testament Revision 2, part 1,
p. 25
[Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew
13:30].
An August 1831
revelation
maintained the original order, with the tares first being gathered and then the
wheat. That revelation explained that the wicked would be plucked out when Christ
returned, implying that the righteous would remain.
(Revelation, 30 Aug.
1831
[D&C 63:54]).

New Testament Revision 1 / “A Translation of the New Testament Translated by
the Power of God,” 1831. CCLA. Also available in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P.
Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of
the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University, 2004), 153–228.

This inverted order followed the eschatological sequence
of events outlined in a November 1831
revelation: the righteous were to “flee unto Zion

A specific location in Missouri; also a literal or figurative gathering of believers in Jesus Christ, characterized by adherence to ideals of harmony, equality, and purity. In JS’s earliest revelations “the cause of Zion” was used to broadly describe the ...

This 6 December
revelation, which has the Lord telling the angels to “first gather out the wheat,”
goes in the same direction as that revision, changing the wording slightly regarding
the disposition of the tares. Whether the revelation was dictated before or after
the revision was made is unclear, as the revision could have been made anywhere
within a roughly six-month window of time.7

It is also possible that the “translating”
JS mentioned in his 6
December
journal entry
referred not to his review of his earlier New Testament revisions but to his work of
revising the Old Testament, which he was engaged in at the same time. Between July 1832, when Frederick G. Williams

became
the principal scribe for JS’s revision of the Old Testament, and July 1833, when JS and Williams completed that work,
Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

Since an extant copy of the 6 December revelation
attests that Rigdon wrote the revelation as JS dictated it, Rigdon may have helped
JS with the Bible revision that day, in which case JS may have been revising those
chapters in Jeremiah on 6 December. The chapters
include passages on the scattering and gathering of Israel, including verses
explaining that the Lord would “gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them” and “set up shepherds over them which shall feed
them.”9

Jeremiah 23:3–4.

The revelation on the wheat and the tares emphasizes the gathering of the
righteous in the last days. It incorporates elements of the book of Revelation to
recast the parable as a history of Christianity from the days of the apostles to the
world’s end. The description of a second sowing in the last days clearly depicts
Mormonism as a restoration of primitive Christianity. Likewise, the end of the
revelation expounds on the idea of priesthood

Power or authority of God. The priesthood was conferred through the laying on of hands upon adult male members of the church in good standing; no specialized training was required. Priesthood officers held responsibility for administering the sacrament of...

, addressing those in “whom the
priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers.” The revelation seems
to indicate that those ordained

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

to the priesthood are essential to the
gathering of Israel, as it counsels them to be a “light unto the Gentiles

Those who were not members of the House of Israel. More specifically, members of the church identified gentiles as those whose lineage was not of the Jews or Lamanites (understood to be the American Indians in JS’s day). Certain prophecies indicated that ...

” and a “savior” to
Israel. The priesthood component of the revelation was apparently perceived as its
key aspect: upon its publication in the 1835 edition of
the Doctrine and
Covenants, the revelation bore the heading “On Priesthood.”10

Williams
noted on the Revelation
Book 2 copy that he was
JS’s “assistant scribe and councellor”; he was
designated as a counselor and scribe to JS in a 5
January 1833
revelation, so
this 6 December 1832 revelation may have been
copied as early as 5 January.a
However, it is uncertain when Williams was formally appointed to his office. Such
formal appointments usually occurred in a conference. Williams had apparently been
appointed by 22 January because he is
listed as “assistant scribe and counselor” in the minutes of a conference held that day.b In Revelation Book 2,
Williams signed two of the three revelations immediately following the one dated
6 December 1832—revelations of 27–28 December 1832 and
3 January 1833—in the same way.c The five items that immediately follow Revelation,
3 January
1833,
appear to have been copied soon after the dates they bear. The first is dated
27 February, suggesting that the previous
revelations had been copied by around this time.d
However,
the
December 1832 and January 1833 revelations in Revelation Book 2
could
have been copied
anytime
up to
18 March 1833, when Williams was ordained “to
be equal with him [JS] in holding the Keys
of the Kingdom and also to the Presidency of the high
Priesthood.”e
At
some point—probably while preparing revelations for the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants—JS wrote “To go into the covenants”
at the head of the copy in Revelation Book 2.

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...